by

Lucien Rajakarunanayake

The first week of April is one of historical importance in Sri Lanka. Easter Sunday, April 5 1942 saw the first air attack on the island by the Japanese, later described as the Battle of Ceylon in World War II. Much later, April 5, 1971, saw the beginning of the first insurgency by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, (JVP), when at dawn that day its cadres attacked the Wellawaya Police Station, and the previous evening a group of JVP cadres were arrested at Vihara Maha Devi Park in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike at her nearby Rosmead Place residence.

We have to make a leap in time to the new mark of history, with the revolution in opposition politics that is taking place, with the Speaker due to make his ruling on Tuesday 7 on the office of Leader of the Opposition. That is when we will hopefully see the result of what is now being dubbed as the Nimal vs Dinesh Battle – or what many call the political Battle of the Blues; because Nimal Siripala de Silva is very much a member of the SLFP blues, and Dinesh Guneawrdena has had much of his late father Philip Gunewardena’s Marxist red washed away, with his strong and long association with the UPFA led by the SLFP and all its Blue politics.One aspect of this Opposition revolution is that the people are largely in the blues as to how it does matter to them.

What we see today is a much stronger blend of Blue and Green in the politics of Good Governance with Bad Politics. The two blues who are battling to gain control of the Opposition Leadership, are pointing to another battle of sorts that is taking place outside parliament. That is the emerging campaign to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa back into parliamentary politics, and hopefully to the office of Prime Minister, or at least the Leader of the Opposition, after the General Election due in late June or early July, as many analysts see it today.

What is of much more concern than all of these political antics among the Opposition benches in Parliament is the emerging cost of constitutional change. There is no doubt that major constitutional changes, such as the drafting of a new constitution, would cost money with the need to establish a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of preparing the draft constitution. But, what is happening today is a wholly different exercise.

The poll result of January 8 that saw the defeat of the man who believed he was invincible, and went ahead with full faith in planetary readings, against opinion polls, to call for an election two years ahead of schedule. What we saw was his shocking defeat (and that of his much extended family, too), and a clear call for constitutional changes that would ensure that neither he nor any other person would ever have the powers he once held, and also increased, in the most corrupt authoritarian rule we have seen in this country.

April 2015 should go down in history, especially if the 19th Amendment is adopted by Parliament this month, as the time of a Constitutional Revolution. What is more striking just now than the content of the i9th Amendment is the rise of Profiteering on the Constitution. Many an economist would explain what is taking place today as a matter of political demand and supply.

The need is for the constitutional amendments.This could be called the demand. On the supply side is that of the votes in Parliament to make up the two-thirds majority to achieve the change. This has given a twist to the general principle of supply and demand; because those who can supply the votes for the change are having their own demands. These are the demands of power and profit.

We have already seen 26 members of the SLFP, in full blue fashion, cross over from the Opposition to Government and lay their hands on the power and profit of Cabinet and related office. One of them has just had second thoughts, but more power and profit could lead to another cross back, too. There is already much talk of 10 more from the SLFP ranks crossing over to the seats of power and profit. As April 10 gets closer things could be much more exciting and profitable in the business of constitution making.

What we see today is a growing bandwagon of governance, through constitution making. With the short time left in the current parliament, the stakes for votes are very high indeed. The best and most must be made in the shortest possible time. This goes beyond all talk of corrupt capitalism. It is corrupt politics at its worst. And, with the opportunities for nomination at the next election also being a matter of doubt, this is clearly the time to make the best profits through governance or constitutional change.In the new business of politics it is “two-thirds advantage”.

All of this new desire for profitable crossover points to the reality that ultimately the people have much more to pay for good constitutional changes, than going to the polls and defeating an authoritarian, family-tree oriented leader. It is the people, through the cost of governance, and not any political party, that have to pay the price for constitutional change. It is hopefully the cost of keeping such corrupt types out of politics in the future, or even if they do creep in again, make vast reductions in their power to profit through governance.

Let’s hope that April 2015 will be remembered in later years as the time when we were able to bribe politicians to raise their hands for constitutional changes, to build a political culture where the business of politics has no place in the structures of governance. It does seem a long call …but let’s hope and pray

Courtesy: The Island